RAWALPINDI: A nine-year-old schoolgirl was killed after a Green Electric Bus collided with a motorcycle on Adiala Road in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, triggering an angry reaction from local residents and attacks on buses.
According to police and rescue officials, Hamid Maqbool, a resident of Kahkashan Colony, was returning home with his two daughters after school when the motorcycle collided with a Green Electric Bus near Munawar Colony.
The nine-year-old girl, identified as Ayesha, fell from the motorcycle and came under the bus, sustaining fatal injuries. She died at the scene. Her father and other daughter remained safe in the incident.
Following the accident, residents became enraged after seeing the schoolgirl in her uniform on the road. A group of protesters pelted the buses with stones, smashing windows and causing significant damage to the vehicles.
The driver of the bus involved in the accident, identified as Syed Shajar Abbas, was also injured in the stone-pelting and reportedly held by protesters.
The situation escalated when protesters attempted to set fire to the rear of one of the buses. SHO Sadar Bairuni Aizaz Azim and DFC Mubeen intervened and managed to extinguish the fire before it could spread.
Chief Traffic Officer Farhan Aslam and SP Saddar Anam Sher, accompanied by a heavy police contingent, reached the scene. The injured driver and the deceased girl were shifted to hospital through Rescue 1122, while the damaged buses were removed from the area.
Police subsequently began arresting people allegedly involved in stone-pelting and creating a law-and-order situation. Police sources said 13 people were taken into custody from the scene, while further arrests were being pursued after identification through CCTV footage.
Authorities said an investigation was underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the fatal collision.
The deceased student was reportedly enrolled at an FG Girls School.
Punjab CM Takes Notice
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif took notice of the incident and expressed deep sorrow over the death of the young girl.
She sought a report from the Rawalpindi commissioner and said those responsible for the girl’s death would be brought before the law.
The investigation into both the fatal accident and the subsequent violence remains ongoing.